With the independent movement taking shape over the last five years, heads have been lucky enough to get to a taste of the pool of talent that is Ohio. Not only did this cold metropolis spawn early indy pioneers such as Mood and Hi-Tek, but it’s also responsible for half of the rosters of the [cont.]

    The music business is not for the weak and the tempted—Rasco can vouch for this.  After releasing his critically acclaimed solo debut, Time Waits For No Man, in 1998, Rasco found himself quickly moving up the Indy food chain.  Since, Rasco has not only had to deal with a crash course in “Industry Rule [cont.]

With a relatively interesting name in tow, 7Heads releases its first installment of the 7Heads Are Better Than 1 series, No Edge Ups in South Africa. As the indy label, which houses names such as J-Live, Asheru and Blue Black, El Da Sensei, and Djinji Brown,  begins its ascent up the hip hop hierarchy, one [cont.]

It’s taken them three albums to position themselves as one of indy hip-hop true elite, but with their latest effort Or Stay Tuned, Thes One and Double K of People Under The Stairs  further solidify their spot on the map.  Working as a “dessert disc”, Or Stay Tuned is the type of release which compiles b-sides [cont.]

After garnering major-props for their breakthrough debut, 2000 Fold, Styles of Beyond  (Ryu, Takbir, and DJ Cheapshot) went splitsville shortly thereafter due to internal conflicts that arose after their deal with the Dust Brothers fledgling imprint went awry.  Now reunited and on their own imprint (Spytech), S.O.B. is back with an LP, Megadef, that with the [cont.]

Zion I has put in some work over the last few years; check the resume: From the underground album of the year in The Source (Mind Over Matter), to the evolving of the groups sound on their follow up (Deep Water Slang 2.0), to being featured on the X-Games and as the only hip hop group in [cont.]

Metaphorically speaking, Ras Kass is the Vince Carter of this rap shit. Don’t believe it? Well listen up. Back when the west was nothing but G-funk, along came a young man from virtually unknown C-Arson (Toronto) named John Austin AKA Ras Kass (Vince Carter). The young cat turned hip-hop on its collective ear with his [cont.]

Labels and artists alike loathe the technology advances that are readily available in our dot-com culture, file swappers, in a few isolated instances, have actually worked in concert to assist a few artists—ex: Last Emperor.  Through lost deals with Rawkus, Hi-Rise, and Dr. Dre’s AfterMath imprint, Emp’s “vaulted” material has nevertheless been widely accessible and in [cont.]

      “You niggas is clones / I hand out styles like ice cream cones” brags Pharrell Williams on the remix to “Hot Damn”, just one of the many tracks that grace The Neptunes Clones compilation, and a truer statement couldn’t have been made. After all, The Neptunes are the “it” guys of the moment when it [cont.]

 On “Levitibus” Canibus confidently asserts “hey you shouldn’t fall for the naivety/lyrically I’m the illest when my beats is OK.”  But now on his fifth LP, Rip The Jacker, finding “O.K. beats” to properly embellish his otherworldly theses continues to be Germaine Williams main Achilles heel. While Bis has yet to find the essential synergy [cont.]

 While the Lifesavas are not actually from the Quannum housing projects (the Bay Area), this Portland based crew fits right in next Blackalicious and Latyrx, holding down the Solesides tradition for a new generation.     Their debut, Spirit In Stone does a good job of carrying the torch from the moment it jumps off on “Soldierfied” with its [cont.]

If asked to give a simple yet concise explanation of who Maspyke is, those who are familiar with them may offer the following; “Public Enemy, Jungle Brothers, and Dead Prez  walk into a bar?”  While that maybe a starting point to briefly encapsulate their sound and vibe, this three-man crew are certainly not new jacks, [cont.]

Affiliation with the Likwit Crew and being signed to Tommy Boy gave Defari instant credibility when he quit his day job educating America’s youth to drop his debut album Focused Daily.  Unfortunately, it was not a commercial success and he parted ways with the label.  However, hard work and a stellar appearance on Dr. Dre’s 2001 laid the [cont.]

In the late hours of the night, Sunday’s to be exact, LA listens to Mike Nardone’s ‘We Came From Beyond,’ a hip hop radio show he’s broadcasted over the last 15 years on KLXU. Concentrating on upcoming local artists, indie imprints from around the globe and underground hip hop in general, his show first commenced [cont.]

This record to the listener, if sober or sane, at first will seem really chaotic with its dusty, vinyl-static sound purposely filtered in the background. And then, asking yourself if this debut from Dudley Perkins (part of the crew the hip hop world grew to love through groups such as Lootpack, Quasimoto, & Oh No) should [cont.]

     Heads would be in heaven if they could raid the private archives of their favorite artists, as many of them record material as much as every single day, sometimes recording over 100 songs for one album. Outkast was rumored to have recorded over 75 tracks for Aquemini, only picking the best material for the final [cont.]

There is a chance that any MC from Queensbridge could record himself going to the bathroom and a certain population of the hip-hop universe would still buy the album. Because of this, there is the tendency of some residents of this Long Island City neighborhood to take such actions, releasing, re-releasing and jumping on nearly [cont.]

First impressions mean everything!!  A few months ago while checking out Atmosphere’s God Loves Ugly tour, one unknown, rather curious looking emcee took the stage and proceeded to make a very immediate and lasting impression.  After running thru some solo-cuts, dazzling freestyles and beat-boxing the crowd into submission it was evident that Brother Ali was not [cont.]

Years of building an almost mythic reputation as an innovative lyricist has culminated in C-Rayz Walz’s Ravipops being unleashed through one of hip-hop’s most respected underground labels (Def Jux).  And with it, showcases an MC who’s unpredictable, yet still possesses an uncanny depth and awareness of his surroundings.  C-Rayz is compelling because there are so [cont.]

After serving up an incredible debut, Movies For The Blind, concocting a slick conceptual rendition of the Billy Dee Williams and Sly Stallone cop thriller with partner Camu Tao, (The Nighthawks), and spearheading the incredible Weathermen Conspiracy mix CD, the bastard child of Stanley Kubrick, Cage, somehow finds time to give his fans more with the EP [cont.]